Process of cooking coffee and chicory.



A. SHERER.

PROCESS OF COOKING COFFEE AND CHICORY.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 26, 1912.

l,l'?9,@&6v Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

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Q Um/woes (mww I 1 0M ED snares PATENT OFFICE.

ADOLPH SHERER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

process or COOKING corrnr. AND CHIGORY.

Specification of Letters Ifatent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

Application filed October 26, 1912. Serial No. 727,959.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLPH SHERER, a

monl termed roasting, of coffee and chicory. According to the presentp'rocess I accomplish this cooking by immersing the coffee and chicory in oil or fat heated to a suitable temperature.

It is well known that the ordinary process of roasting or cooking coffee and chicory involves the'heating of the cofiee orv chicory by direct contact with hot air or products of combustion, the chicory and coffee being exposed to the air during such treatment. As a result, a good deal of the aroma is lost and the coffee and chicory is apt to acquire a smoky taste, and furthermore cinders are frequently mixed with it. The browning of the cofiee and chicory when cookedby the ordinary process, is often imperfect, and cooking is often ununiform, portlons of the coffee and chicory being over-cooked and other portions under-cooked.

I have found that by the process hereindescribed, the cooking is'very-uniform and may be carried to precisely the degree de-.

sired. Since the coffee and chicory are not exposed to the air during treatment, nor to contact with flame or furnace gases, the aroma is not lost and a coffee or'chicory of very high grade may be produced.

The process may be carried on in varlous forms'of apparatus.

In the accompanying drawing I show .in central vertical section, one form of apparatus which may be employed.

In said drawing, 1 designates a su table kettle, having within it a perforate cyllnder 2, the bottom as well as-the sides of whichare perforated.

3 designates a suitable press plunger mounted upon a screw 4, whlch screw 15 adapted to be rotated by means of bevel" gears-5 and 6, and a crank 7. Beneath the kettle there is a gas burner 8. A suitable draw-off connection 9 is provided. v

My process is carried out as follows: The kettle 1 is filled to about three quarters of its capacity with a suitable oil or grease (I have found cotton seed oil, and the commercial hydrogenated oil I product known as crisco, to be suitable, though I do not limit myself to the use of these oils only), and thls 011 or grease is brought to a temperature 1n excess, preferably, of 300 Fahrenheit. The perforate cylinder 2, filled to about half 1ts capacity with kiln dried chicory root cuts, or with coffee beans, is then placed withm the kettle, a perforate cover 10 bemg placedwithin the screen cylinder 2 to hold the chicory or coffee completely submerged m the hot oil or melted grease. This hot'oll or melted grease communicates heat very uniformly to the coffee or chicory with the result that the heat treatment of the coffee or chicory is conducted very uniformly, i

The timeof treatment depends upon the temperature of oil or melted grease, and the extentto which it is desired to cook the coffee or chicory root cuts. Chicory root cuts containing only'a small proportion of moisture can be cooked as described, in. oil or melted grease of from 300 to 350 in from fifteento twenty minutes; though if the content of moisture be higher the temperature of oil or melted grease may be from 350 to 38 0, the time required for the treatment being about the same.- In the case of coffee, I prefer to have the oil. or melted grease at a temperature of from v350 to 450 Fahrenheit.

When the coffee or chicory is cookedto the proper do rec, the oil or melted grease I have found that suitable oils or greases,

such as cotton seed oil and crisco, do not penetrate materially into the chicory or coffee during the treatment as described, to

an extent sufiicient to injuriously affect the.

product. In the case of coffee, thevery thin layer .of oil or grease remaining on the coffee bean, after melting, is advantageous,

since it serves to prevent the entrance of moisture into the cofiee'bean, and so prevents deterioration of the product by ab sorption of moisture, as occurs With cofiee roasted the ordinary manner.

There being no opportunity for admixture ofcinders', ashes and char, with .the product, by the process herein described,

the product is in no wise impaired by 'mixture with such substances, as usually occurs in the case of coffee andchicory cooked by ordinary processes.

A further advantage of the process as above, described, is that the time of treatment is greatly reduced, as compared with the time required for roasting cofiee and chicory 111 the ordinary manner. About an hour and a half is usually required for Y roasting chicory in the ordinary manner,

whereas the time required by my process 1s, as above stated, from fifteen to twenty min utes. A' similar reduction in time is experienced in the treatment'of cofl'ee.

Instead of removing surplus oil from the coffee beans by milling, as above described, I may remove such surplus oil by mixing the cofiee beans with a pulverulent dry absorbent material, such for example as bran, or hominy or other cereal substance. An ordinary tumbling barrel is convenient apparatus for'use in such cases.

What I claim is 2-- 1. The herein described process of cook-.

ing cofiee and chicory which consists in imfrom any excess mersing the samein oil heated to a temperature between 300 and 450 F.

2". The herein described process of cooking coffee and chicory which consists in mersing the samein oil heated to a tem erature between 300 and 450 F. and t en removing the excess of oil from the cooked material.

3. The herein described process of cooking coffee and chicory which consists in 1mmersing the same in a suitable oil heated to mersing the same in a hydrogenated oil heated to a temperature between 300 and 450 F., maintaining the oil at such temperature until a uniform and-complete cooking has been efi'ected, removing the cooked material from the (1 il, and separating there- In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two sub scribing witnesses.

ADOLPH SHERER.

Witnesses i n. M. MARBLE, D. A. DAVIES. 

